A new bill will allow a person to be tried and convicted of a criminal offence without seeing all the information relied on by the Crown and without the right to be present, the NZ Law Society says.

Judges of the Samoa Lands and Titles court must have legal training, the Samoa Law Society has urged.

This is to avoid issues, some of which have been brought up to the Supreme Court of Samoa and a current parliamentary inquiry, a report from Radio New Zealand noted.

"We believe that the people who are sitting in these courts must surely have a thorough and comprehensive understanding of the law and to be able to apply it correctly," Samoa Law Society president Savalenoa Mareva Betham Annandale said.

“Because these are some of the issues that come up in those judicial reviews that are currently before the Supreme Court in Samoa.”

Radio New Zealand noted that the Land and Titles court in Samoa does not require judges to have legal experience.

This is the only court in the country that must consider customary resolutions in its process.